Organization History

Who We Are – and What We Do

In 1989, SCA was founded by a paralyzed Guilford resident who wanted to continue his enjoyment of sailing, and to extend this opportunity to other people with any form of disability or special need. He and a group of volunteers began to fulfill this dream with a donated sailboat at City Point in New Haven.

In 1993, SCA was invited by Pilots Point Marina’s General Manager Rives Potts to relocate to our current home in PPM’s South Yard in Westbrook. In the years that have followed, SCA’s dedicated corps of volunteers has raised funds to purchase two specially adapted 20’ sailboats for the program. An additional donation of a 23’ Pearson Ensign class sailboat rounds out our fleet of three safe, comfortable and responsive sailboats. An 80’ long aluminum ramp eases access from shore to the floating dock where the boats are located, and dock-mounted Hoyer lifts allow even our most severely disabled sailors to be safely transferred from their wheelchairs to a comfortable seat in the boat. 

In recent years our part-time Chief Sailing Instructor and more than 30 volunteer skippers and mates have provided as many as 1,500 individual sailing experiences to our special population of sailors, who have all manner of physical and developmental disabilities. We have a particular focus toward children, and to our disabled and wounded Veterans.

The Program operates 5 days a week, and our boats leave the dock as many as 3 times each day. On 4 Saturdays each summer, we host Open Houses at the Marina; these popular events include opportunities to go for a sail, good fellow-ship and complimentary soft drinks. At each of these events, generous people bring food, both hot and cold, for all to share.

We provide this recreational, educational and therapeutic sailing opportunity to our members and their families for a single nominal annual dues payment, and our members may come sailing as often as they wish. People with financial hardships, and all of our Veterans, are offered memberships without charge. Many organizations bring groups to the marina and sail with us frequently. Our income from these sources is well below our actual cost of providing these services, and the remainder of our operating budget comes from private grants and the generosity and kindness of many, many good people.

Thanks to a lot of caring, hard-working and generous people, we expect that SCA will continue to provide sailing opportunities to our wonderful population of sailors for many years to come.

We are a 501(C)-3 non-profit organization, contributions may be tax deductible as permitted by law.